You've ever had a crush on anyone.
And if you've never had the courage to tell said person you like them.
**Note: This post contains spoilers for the movie To All the Boys I've Loved Before** If you want to be totally and completely surprised, watch the movie then come back and read.
I think I can safely say that most of us would raise our hands in response to those questions. In To All the Boys I've Loved Before, we find a main character in a similar situation.The general premise of the movie is sixteen year old Laura Jean has written five letters, each to a very intense crush she's had or has. She stores these away in a box hidden up in her room, afraid of being honest with her crushes about how she feels. The twist is these letters end up with each of the guys she wrote about. Oops. But for me, the movie was not just about having crushes and embarrassing things that can happen as a result. What I really appreciated about this movie was how relatable Laura Jean was as a character (she's a romantic and an introvert like me) and what it says about writing as a way to express emotions about someone.
As an introvert, writing has always been the easiest form of communication for me. I think it's because it allows me to think through my words, choose them carefully, and revise if need be. In actual conversation, it is harder to do that because I'm on the spot. Laura Jean herself is an introvert. She opts to stay in on a Saturday night to watch Golden Girls with her younger sister rather than going out (in fact, her younger sister Kitty makes a very honest comment in that scene along the lines of 'I had to cancel my plans so I could have plans with you because you have no plans'). She reads romantic books. You get the idea. So it makes sense that she would choose writing as her emotional outlet. She can say what she needs to, say it how she wants, open and honestly, and then leave it be. And her feelings stay hidden.
However, on the flip side, there is Josh's (one of the crushes) line to Laura Jean: "You can't just sit up in your room writing love letters. You gotta tell people how you feel when you feel it." (source: To All the Boys I've Loved Before Trailer). This line really struck me. I think depending on the situation (because there are certain situations where it may not be appropriate or helpful to say how you really feel about someone). But sometimes, at some point, like Laura Jean, we have to stop hiding upstairs and find the courage to tell someone how we feel IF the situation calls for it. Now, this is easier said than done. And sometime I should take my own advice...but generally I am too chicken to be "public" and just keep to my journal and my poem notebooks. And you know what? Sometimes that's for the best. Emotions can be fleeting and you might really like somebody for a month and then decide they're not worth it for whatever reason (taken, gay, generally unavailable. Cue Jenn Bostic's "Gay or Taken"--which is a great song, dear readers). In Laura Jean's case, because this is a movie, there's a happy ending and she ends up with one of the boys she wrote a letter to. If only real life worked that way, right?
So. Believe the internet hype about this movie. It lived up to it and was very cute and enjoyable. Let me know your thoughts in the comments and thank you for reading!
*NOTE: post was edited 10/27/18. I attributed a line to Peter that was actually one of Josh's lines. I discovered this upon a second viewing of the movie.
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